


Gashadokuro

by Meaty_Albatross



Category: RWBY
Genre: From the point of view of someone who isn't a hunter, Grimm - RWBY, It's a story about Grimm, it's not pretty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meaty_Albatross/pseuds/Meaty_Albatross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>According to Japanese Mythology, Gashadokuro are spirits made from the souls of warriors who die on the battlefield and victims of starvation who never receive proper burials, in a vague sense at least. They make a sound like chattering teeth or rattling bones, until they see someone alone on a road late at night. At that point they will go silent and catch the person, killing them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gashadokuro

The clacking sound was incessant. At first she thought it was simply something on her horse hitting a metal rivet, but she stopped to rest and the sound persisted. After listening, she found that it was coming from somewhere to the north of the road she was traveling along. Unfortunately, the thick and forest lining and towering trees the road made it impossible to see what was causing the sound. The moonless, cloudy night wasn't helping either. The woman was fine with that as far as she was concerned, since she wasn't too keen on finding out about the source. While she had a blade, she wasn't a very good match for any creature that could be causing that sound. Few were, only Hunters had the skill to reliably fight off Grimm. She hurried along the road after the brief stop, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision to not hire help.

The road from Vale to her village was silent, no one went on the roads at night for the very reason she was constantly scanning the shadowy forest. The pitch black skin of the Grimm blended in and made them horribly dangerous, but the medicine she carried with had to be given as soon as possible. The extra supplies she had grabbed would also be welcomed if she got there quickly.

It was a few minutes before another sound joined the clacking that had steadily grown in volume: a dull thudding sound, like heavy footfalls. Though she tried to bottle her fear, the woman started to frantically look around as the sounds grew in volume quickly. Then all at once they stopped, and silence took over the forest once again.

The woman listened intently, and looked around at the trees as her horse led her down the trail. When she heard nothing for a solid minute she relaxed, deciding that whatever it was would have attacked by now. She continued to ride, still looking at the trees occasionally in case something really did appear. It couldn't have been a Grimm, she knew they mindlessly destroyed. None would wait so long before striking. She was kept busy trying to calm her horse though, since it seemed nervous after all the noise. It made her wonder if that thing was somehow silently following them, just close enough for the horse to smell it. The woman stroked her horse's side and talked to it in a calm voice, but it still kept it's ears stiff forward, even twitching a bit. She kept a tight hold on the reigns as they continued walking.

They made it a few more minutes like that, until the horse stopped dead and its ears seemed to listen for something above. The woman frowned and patted the horse gently “Dorado, we need to keep moving” she practically begged. She didn't want to spend a second long out here. Still the horse stood stiff. She hugged the horse and pet his mane while looking around for what could be spooking him. The horse looked up, and in an instant everything went wrong. It brayed and reared up, throwing the woman off before she could reach for the reigns. She flipped backwards, and time seemed to slow down as she looked up and saw it.

A mockery of a human skull, eye sockets filled with red fire. Lines of blood red running over the black “skin” of a horrifyingly large figure. It looked like a gangly human, like someone that hadn't eaten in weeks. Its elongated limbs made it look wrong though, as though made by something that hadn't seen a human. Bone structures pierced the skin and shimmering crystal deposits dotted the body. The woman saw it all in the second it took to hit the ground. When she landed, she stared up at it in horror as the monster tilted its head. Then as it raised a mammoth hand, the clacking sound filled the woman's ears yet again. It was deafening, her head started hurting immediately. But she couldn't react. The burning red eyes of a creature three stories tall were staring right at her. The hand in the air closed into a fist before rocketing down at the woman. Only then could she even make a noise. The scream that pierced the night was quickly silenced with the loud crash of something heavy hitting the ground. The giant grimm looked down both ends of the road for more people, before slowly rising to it's feet.

The clacking stopped when it slowly turned. As it lumbered away the heavy footfalls echoed before they too suddenly stopped. The path was silent save for the galloping horse. The only remains left behind were an unrecognizable mess of something that one could only guess belonged to a person, and the imprint of a giant fist where the bloody mess lay.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. It's just a short lil thing I decided to write. I imagine a Grimm based on a Gashadokuro would be old, one of the oldest in Remnant. As such they are intelligent and really powerful. They would also have strange things like dust crystal deposits on them and the ability to disappear.


End file.
